10 Ways a Contestant Can Add Value to their District

Recently in the Toastmasters Official Facebook group, the topic of a International contestant's value to Toastmasters, or rather 'lack thereof' came up. It was suggested that winners of speech contests are often in it just for themselves, as they chase the trophy, and do little else for Toastmasters.

That was a grand sweeping statement, and I know many, many contestants who do a great deal within Toastmasters, both outside of their competing, as well as as a byproduct of their victories.

But the comment wouldn't have come up if it weren't true in some cases. Maybe it's a new contestant that is getting overwhelmed and is overly focused on themselves. Maybe it's a truly selfish contestant - people are people, after all. At the same time, maybe it's the District - not reaching out to the contestant, not taking advantage of the opportunity to support and promote their winners.

For now, I'm going to focus on you (or your friends) as a contestant - we can only control our own actions, and we can contribute. This goes for ALL contestants - winners and losers at ANY level - but especially for those of you that are fortunate enough to go to the International Semi Finals, Finals, or even win it ALL.

Ten Ways to Add Value Beyond the Trophy on your Desk...

1. Visit other clubs - you've got to practice anyway, right? Schedule yourself at clubs - summer is often a tough time for them to have full speaker slates. I've found most clubs more than happy to bring contestants in, and they'll often promote that they have a 'World Championship Contestant' in order to fill their room. Don't want to practice your speech that much? Offer to come and give a different speech that interests you and them. Afraid they'll say no? Some will - but at least they know you tried.

2. Volunteer at your TLI - the next big project for your district after the Conferences is the Toastmaster Leadership Institute. Volunteer to train officers, give an educational session, or to keynote the event. No speaking slots available? Work the registration table, bring food, be a Sgt. at Arms, or a room host!

3. Write for the Newsletter - your article could be contest related, speech-writing related, or anything else you know that might be of value to the District readership. Newsletter editors are often desperate for content - become their ally, and fill some of that space for them.

4. Use Social Media - promote Toastmasters on your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, whatever. Your club, your district, the organization itself. Write a blogpost, or twenty, about your journey to the championships. Post pictures. Tell the world about all your great experiences both as a competitor and as a 'plain old Toastmaster', and share the stories of others as well.

5. Contact Your Local Media - don't just rely on your District to contact the local paper - you can write a press release easily - go here for a template. I've been featured in my local paper in all three Districts I've competed out of, and I've seen other contestants score radio and TV spots as well. Don't just talk about the contest - get the Toastmaster message out there!

6. Speak Outside TM - schedule yourself at local service clubs - Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Optimists and the like. Practice your contest speech in combination with a speech promoting the TM program. You'll get good practice in a non-TM environment, and meet a lot of amazing people.

7. Take a Club Officer Role - just a month after your victory, all the officers are shifting. Why not be the next President, VPEd, or Secretary. Show your club you're in it for more than the shiny trophies. It won't effect your eligibility a bit.

8. Support Demo Meetings - your District is always trying to grow, and spread the goodness of Toastmasters to the world. Volunteer for a role - ANY ROLE - at a demo meeting. Your leaders will love you for it.

9. Coach, Sponsor or Mentor a Club - After that demo meeting, those newly chartering clubs will need a sponsor or a mentor. Why not you? Their are other clubs that may be flagging that could use your experience and enthusiasm as a coach, as well.

10. Don't Compete Every Year - Yes, I've competed 11 out of 14 years, so I know this can be a tough suggestion. But I've also served as an Area and Division Governor (now Director, for you newbies), and even taken a year off to just...take a year off. I'm even a DTM, finally. There's no rule that says you can't compete every year, but some districts are less likely to suffer serial contestants (like me) than others. Consider that their tolerance of you might be proportionate to how much value you provide along the way - just sayin'.

Do you HAVE to do any of these things? No. But not adding value is likely at the heart of the comments I've heard. Don't become so focused on your own goals that you forget the people that helped put you in position to reach them.

I would suggest that as contestants we have a responsibility to serve our Districts, to serve Toastmasters in general. They have provided us the stage. Use it to Speak & Deliver the right messages - messages of communication, service and leadership that define our organization.

Don't chase the wrong trophy.

What I Learned from Lance Miller

Hey - Look who's coming to TLI! (Toastmasters Leadership Institute)

None other than 2005 World Champion of Public Speaking Lance Miller, one of the champions I've probably spent the least time with, and seen the least of, over the years.

Not that he doesn't get around - I'm just never there when he does. I did get a chance to hear him speak at the Champs Edge Summit in 2011, and he came to the contestants dinner you may have seen in SPEAK the movie, but never at length, or in a formal 'speaking' scenario.

TLI was different. First, he was on a whirlwind tour - doing two hours of talking Friday Night in Ft. Collins, 2 hours with us in Denver the next morning, then heading to Colorado Springs, and, I believe, Grand Junction and Southern CO were also on this docket.

My understanding was that Lance prefers TLIs (though I'm sure he'll speak at District Conferences without complaint!) - and he confirmed that in his comments. Which brings us to...

What I Learned from Lance Miller

1. You Can Disagree With Toastmasters While Still Passionately Promoting It.  A lesson I need to hear often, I think. I've always been a fan of authenticity, and Lance made it very clear to start that he wasn't going to pull any punches, that he wasn't a fan of the DCP (Distinguished Club Plan), and that Toastmasters doesn't do everything right. He backed that up by saying he'd told Toastmasters International's top man, Dan Rex, these things straight up - and when he comes to a District TLI, they know what they're getting. Lance loves Toastmasters, and makes that clear. He does, however, have some unorthodox views - views which I agreed with, as did many I could see in our audience of 300+ officers in training.

2. We Set Our Sights Too Low. He basically said that if our club didn't hit President's Distinguished, hitting all 10 of the set goals in the DCP - we simply weren't trying hard enough, and that a healthy club should hit those goals easily. The knee-jerk reaction to that is often "easy for you to say, you aren't dealing with my club". He understands this though, and basically dismisses it out of hand. The feeling I left with was 'you can keep doing what you're doing and own the results, you can do something different and get better results, or you can go find a club that's healthier instead of continuing to work within a club that doesn't want to improve'. Tough talk, but true talk.

3. Be Clear About Your Club Goals. His message was centered around being a healthy club per TM standards, and exceeding those standards. Decide to be great - as his club did back in the 90's, and continues to be today.

I also took it as indicated above - 'keep doing what you're doing and own the results'. That is, if your club is happy being what it is, if you're meeting members goals, keep doing what you're doing. However, I believe that if your club is veering too far off from TM's goals as an organization, it's time to give up your charter and start your own organization. If your club has been reduced to 5 people getting together socially, who also happen to pay their dues, it's not really a Toastmasters club, is it?

At the same time, you might be an Advanced Club, with very specific goals - you're working on humor, or keynotes, or evaluations - and hitting your DCP goals isn't a priority. As long as you're aware of who you are, and honor the spirit of TM, you're on the right track. Of course, even then, keeping 20 members, getting Officer Training, Paying Dues, Submitting Officers Reports, and 2 extra manual completions puts you in Distinguished status, which honors not only TM, but your Area, Division, and District Governors. So why not at least aim for that level of distinction.

4. We're an Education Program! It's not like I didn't know that before, but he put it out so simply, that it has helped me change my perspective somewhat. I've been spoiled over the years to be a member in clubs that have a lot of core members, and when I see so many come in for awhile and then leave, it bothers me a bit. It can almost be a personal affront that someone will come in, get their CC and move on. Don't they understand? I've been in for 14 years and I'm still getting tremendous value - do they think there's nothing more for them?

It's a fact of life that TM has a 33% turnover rate, and that the average member never makes it past their sixth speech. It's not personal, it's just life. Some don't get what they need out of TM. Some aren't willing to work hard enough to get what they need. Some get exactly what they need, and don't want more, or simply want to take what they've learned and go a different direction. That's OK - in fact, that's a success for them and for us in Toastmasters.

5A. We Shouldn't Recruit New Members, We Should Recruit New Visitors. No one wants to come with the pressure of commitment. Just get them to try it, like free samples at Costco (or Sam's, or Trader Joe's, your choice). If TM tastes good to them, they'll come back, and get what they want.

5B. Don't Have Meetings, Have Events. Nobody likes going to meetings, really. Make each gathering an event - use themes, tie in to holidays and local happenings. Have extra events - just because your club meets on Thursday nights doesn't mean you can't have a Saturday party, or speech-a-thon, or even a contest day. Every time you get together, be organized, enthusiastic, encouraging. When visitors (and members) feel the energy, they'll return. Count on it.

Lance's training presentation was the best I've seen in Toastmasters, and frankly, the best I've seen in my years in the marketing and advertising industry. I've been trained a lot over the years, but trainers of every type. But Lance's unrivaled passion for and knowledge of the organization, his authentic and transparent speaking style, and his willingness to call both his organization and his audience onto the carpet resulted in a combination of paradigm shifts and re-anchoring of best practices in my own Toastmasters experience. I can only hope it did the same, and more, for those around me.

Bonus Lesson: Claim Your Corner - Lance explained that while many champs focus on speaking about speaking, he has expertise many champs do not - building not just a championship speech, but a championship CLUB, back in California. A club rated 4th in the world at one time - back when they actually kept track. So while he'll speak about speaking, and has a speaking product or two, he focuses on Club building - from officer roles to recruiting membership to dealing with tough situations, and tough personalities, along the way. He knows where he can stand out to Speak & Deliver - do you?

Speaker's Remorse - The Strongest Editing Tool

Don't you love the feeling right after you finish a speech? 

The crowd claps, maybe even stands, you shake the hand of the emcee, walk off and smile and wave, both energized and relieved that you've done your best. What a rush! For about 30 seconds.

Suddenly...

Speaker's Remorse. You start thinking about EVERYTHING you did wrong. What you left out, from words to gestures to stage movements, to that humor twist at the end which would have left your audience feeling even better! Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Then you start thinking about how what you DID say wasn't perfect - this part fell flat, that transition could have been better, and, ugh, why did I wear this outfit?

It happens to the best of us. Unless we've memorized and practiced and given the presentation hundreds of times - well, it can happen EVEN THEN.

Last Fall, I gave a short keynote in Ft. Collins for the District 26 Toastmaster Leadership training. It was a well-received speech that focused on my Mom unexpectedly becoming the leader in our family. I sat down, and immediately thought about three different parts of the speech:

1. I had left a couple of items out (not that anyone in the audience would know) about my mom's journey
2. The humor bit involving 2001 Toastmaster World Champion of Public Speaking Darren LaCroix (there was a cutout of him on stage with me) could be enhanced even WITHOUT the cutout to this particular audience
3. I could've shifted the force of the keynote from Win Anyway to Lead Anyway, and be more in tune with the tone of the event

Again - it was still well-received, but I had immediate changes to consider if I were to deliver this again.

Photo by Bradley Beck

Last weekend, I had the chance to deliver essentially the same address to in Denver for their version of the training event, and I implemented those changes, to great success. More laughs, more emotional connection, and more intensity with the Lead Anyway approach.

Even then, I sat down realizing there was a line I left out at the end with a key humor line - just lost to the moment. C'est la vie, no one noticed but me.

The next time you speak, and are faced with those moments right after you speak? Take notes, immediately. Send an email to yourself. Some of your best ideas, and best editing can come right after you speak. Go back and listen/watch the video you no doubt took of yourself. Transcribe it, and see where your mind goes when you speak LIVE.

Then give it again. I hear that the best speeches aren't written, but rewritten. True. It's also true that the best speeches aren't just given, they're re-given, particularly as soon as possible.

We are our own worst critics, most of the time. Don't internalize it and make yourself miserable - document it and use it to improve. Share YOUR Speaker's Remorse stories below - then go out and Speak....and Deliver.